The Hindu : Karnataka News : Survey says Bandipur is nest to over 300 species of birds

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 02, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Survey says Bandipur is nest to over 300 species of birds

By R. Krishna Kumar

SIGHTING A PREY: A Pariah Kite at Bandipur

MYSORE, JULY 1. With the first showers lashing Bandipur National Park, the forests are a witness to breeding activity of birds much to the delight of the naturalists.

Rare birds with equally exotic names such as Greater Rocket tailed drongo, Yellowbrowed Bulbul, White headed babblers, Brahminy Kite, Crested Serpent Eagle, Indian Peafowl, Yellowlegged Button Quail, Purplerumped sunbird, Red munia, Malabar Whistling thrush, could be sighted if one were to be a little patient.

D. Rajkumar, an amateur naturalist with a passion for wildlife conservation told The Hindu that a recent avian monitoring proved that there were over 300 species of birds in the Park. This conforms to the previous such bird surveys carried out by the Forest Department in conjunction with ornithologists. As per the official records, which are updated as and when new species are discovered, there were at least 338 identifiable bird species in Bandipur and the latest round of bird survey carried out recently comes close to the above figure.

Mr. Rajkumar pointed out that Bandipur, with an area of over 880 sq.km, proved to be daunting for such exercises but a team of 30 field bird watchers were selected for the task. They prepared a standard data sheet and used the area search method to determine their index of population density.

The watchers covered 17 sites within the national park and recorded 6,665 birds in the first phase, 7,812 in the second phase, 7,871 birds in the third phase and 6,860 birds in the fourth phase. Mr. Rajkumar said that an analysis of the figures proved that there was an abundance of birds in Bandipur though it never figured in the general literature or write-ups of the national park. For the tigers and the elephants seem to hog all the limelight.

Mr. Rajkumar said the Plum-headed Parakeets and Red-vented Bulbul were in abundance and in healthy numbers and were closely followed by Common Myna, Jungle Babblers and Red whiskered Bulbul. There were more than 160 species that were resident and breeding in the national park while 27 species were winter visitors and 12 were local migratory birds.

The surveys have also led to the sighting of rare birds such as the White-eyed Buzzard, Egyptian Vulture and Lesser Adjudant Stork. Likewise, Yellow-legged Button Quail, Mottled wood-Owl, Nilgiri flycatcher, Black and Orange Flycatcher with a ring in its legs were encountered and recorded during the survey.

Though conservation was a major challenge and man-animal conflict was taking a heavy toll of the bird and animal life, there was renewed pressure on them due to development activity near the fringe areas of the forests. Mr. Rajkumar pointed out that conversion of forest land to arable land was posing a new threat to the bird life.

The other major threat to the bird population in Bandipur stemmed from the practice of collecting dead wood for fuel by the villagers, cattle grazing inside the national park, which led to the clearance of the upper cover of grass that was crucial for ground nesting birds. The use of pesticides at the periphery of the national park abetted chemical poisoning and could wreak havoc once it entered the food chain through birds of prey. Mr. Rajkumar pointed out that the modern ways of clearing the dead animals in the forest and the practice of registering the dead animals and burning them by the Forest Department was depriving the birds of their food which posed a threat in the long run. He suggested the use of alternative energy sources as a measure to mitigate pressure on the national park and reduce human dependence on forests failing which the bird population too would go on a decline.

Celebrated for charging tigers, elusive leopards and rampaging tuskers sauntering through the dense jungles, the Bandipur National Park, with a diverse habitat ranging from dry scrub jungles to moist decidious forests, was among the first to be identified for Project Tiger.

Flanked by Mudumalai sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Wynad sanctuary in Kerala and adjacent to Nagarahole national park, Bandipur serves as a central link in the seasonal migration of elephants and harbours one of the richest wildlife areas in India.

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